I’m happy to say, Orcs vs. Martians can probably be called an actual game now. I’ve added the logic to detect when a game is won, and when it is, the game ends and shows the results screen. That, coupled with improved AI, has made OvM start feeling like a real game.
…not a game that people would buy, not yet, but a game nonetheless :)
Some things that are working now:
Game results screen
I’ve got this screen grouping teams together and showing them in the order of team scores. Individual player stats are visible too. It’s got “progress” bars behind the scores/stats, in the same style as Starcraft. I plan to colorize the bars to make it easy to see the individual players’ contributions to the total team stats.
In this game I teamed up with our old friend, Kork, and went after three AI teams.

Sadly, Kork and I got trounced. @#$% Martians.
Unit-level AI
Military units now spread themselves out around their base to protect it better, and run to engage nearby enemies. They also return if they wander off too far. Ranged units are now smart enough to go only as close as necessary to bring their target into range, maximizing their advantage over melee units.
Melee units
There are melee units now! Orcs have axemen, Martians have battle-bots, and humans have swordsmen. (Each race now has three unit types: melee, ranged, and worker)

Networking
I fixed several bugs and crashes that crept in since I last tested networked games. LAN games now work again, although with some visual artifacts. I also made some progress on getting random maps to work in networked games, but that feature is still a work in progress.
Password-protected servers
Hooked up the GUI to the logic for this feature, and verified it works. (this was a minor effort since Torque does most of the work)
Installer
I got the installer done! It includes the ability to un-install via Windows’ Add/Remove Programs, and to create Start menu shortcuts. The only thing it doesn’t do yet is put a shortcut on the desktop. The installer is a single setup.exe, currently weighing in at 12MB.

I created the installer using NSIS. Before chosing NSIS I read nothing but praise for it, but after using it I am slightly disappointed. True, NSIS is pretty easy to use. But -
For one thing, an NSIS installer’s GUI looks significantly different from the standard Windows installer GUI. That’s a downside, especially for an indie application. When you think about it, a user who installs an indie app is taking a certain amount of risk. How does the user know the app doesn’t contain spyware, or other hidden malware? After all, the indie company is some tiny entity the user has never heard of. If the app has a windows-standard installer GUI, that lends a certain credibility to the app, and helps reassure the user. It increases the chances the user will trust the app and eventually buy it.
Also, the syntax of NSIS’s internal installer script is the “clunkiest”, for lack of a better word, syntax I’ve ever seen for a scripting language. And NSIS isn’t smart enough to simply un-install the files that it originally installed. You have write an explicit uninstall script, like you wrote the install script, leading to redundant code.
—–
It’s been pretty fun test-playing the game, now that it’s playable. Martians are by far the most powerful race, owing to their high-tech weapons. But Martians also have the fewest hit points, so if the Orc horde ever manages to get close, it gets ugly fast for the Martians :)
Orcs are the second-best race, owing to immense hit points, pretty good speed, and powerful melee attacks.
Then there’s the human race…poor blighters :) They’ve got neither good hit points, nor powerful weapons. They tend to lose.
I think I will give humans the advantage of the best technology tree, which will eventually allow them to upgrade their weapons, if they can survive long enough. To help them survive, I’ll probably give them the strongest buildings. (which kind of makes sense…Orcs aren’t known for good buildings, and the Martians have crash-landed, so they don’t have much in the way of construction tools.)
I’m not sure how far I’ll let humans upgrade their technology. Hmm… it would be funny to see Middle-Earth humans attacking the Orc horde, with gatling guns :) Or with a thermonuclear device. Humorous possibilities abound, for this game.